The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed Martin Griffiths of the United Kingdom as his Special Envoy for Yemen in February 2018.

Mr. Griffiths brings extensive experience in conflict resolution, negotiation, mediation and humanitarian affairs. Since 2014, he served as the first Executive Director of the European Institute of Peace. Between 2012 and 2014, he served as an adviser to all three Special Envoys of the Secretary-General for Syria, and Deputy Head of the United Nations Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS). From 1999 to 2010, Mr. Griffiths was the founding Director of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue in Geneva, where he specialized in developing political dialogue between governments and insurgents in a range of countries across Asia, Africa and Europe.

He also worked in the British diplomatic service and for various international humanitarian organizations, including UNICEF, Save the Children and Action Aid. In 1994 he became the Director of the Department of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva and, from 1998 to 1999, served as Deputy to the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator in New York. He has also served as United Nations Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Great Lakes and in the Balkans.

Mr. Griffiths holds a Master Degree in Southeast Asian studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, and he is a qualified barrister.

Born in 1951, he is married and has two children.

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmad (April 2015-February 2018)

In April 2015, the United Nations Secretary-General appointed Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed as his Special Envoy for Yemen.

Ould Cheikh Ahmad has more than 30 years of experience in development and humanitarian assistance with the United Nations in Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. In early 2018, he announced that he did intend to continue in his position beyond the end of contract ending in February 2018.